Ask Me Anything! (#4)

This one from my mother:

I have a question. How do you think Pronger should be punished for that cheap shot against McAmmond? I think he should be suspended the rest of the series, seems his one game suspension didn't teach him any lessons! And what was the ref watching? No penalty???

Pronger was suspended one game for the elbow... one game more than I thought he'd get, and one game less than he deserved.

Suspending him for the rest of the series as you suggested would have been a fair move, considering it is his second offense in 2 weeks, but there were two reasons why this wasn't happening. 1) Pronger is a star in the league and thus will receive a bit of special treatment, 2) It is the Stanley Cup Finals. Every single call, review, goal, hit, etc. is magnified tenfold in the finals... no one wants to suspend a guy for the entire series unless he virtually commits murder.

Granted, looking back at #1, if Chris Pronger were say Sean O'Donnell, he'd probably not be seeing another game this series. But he isn't. He's Chris Pronger. It was for this reason that I thought they might just let him get away with it. (Best argument I heard was that McAmmond is short so Pronger meant to hit him legitimately and accidentally elbowed him. Please.)

In my opinion, and that of most unbiased hockey fans (not saying I'm unbiased, but I can be when I have to be...), Chris Pronger should have received a 2-game suspension. One game for the elbow itself, and one game for the fact that this just happened in the last series and he obviously didn't learn anything or care.

To see the elbow, check it out here.

Funny, the more I watch it, the more I have to agree with your series-long suspension.